Integration

Today’s customer service is becoming increasingly digital—35% of interactions now take place on digital channels. In response, more and more businesses are providing support across a variety of digital channels, including but not limited to SMS, social media, and web chat. And while the use of these channels is growing rapidly, the use of digital self-service channels isn’t far behind.

Case in point: In 2011, Gartner predicted over 85% of the customer experience would be managed without a human by 2020. The industry is certainly trending in this direction—Forrester found that self-service usage increased from 67% in 2012 to 76% in 2014. If we follow Forrester’s trajectory, by the end of 2016 self-service usage could reach 84% penetration, meaning Gartner’s prediction might come even sooner than realized. But let’s take a look at where self-service is now.

I was recently at an industry event in London and found myself speaking with a highly qualified and experienced developer. This is the kind of guy who has been building voice applications for decades. And he was pissed.

He was pissed that the years of experience he had building voice apps didn’t mean anything anymore, that younger programmers were just as good at building apps as he was. That’s because today you don’t need to build as much thanks to APIs (application programming interfaces) that work with seemingly everything. All of the skills that used to be his competitive advantage have been productized by companies who have created easy-to-use APIs and charge fractions of a cent for usage.

Customer service is more important today than at any point in recent history. Multiple studies, such as one by American Express in 2012, indicate that consumers are increasingly valuing companies that provide exceptional customer service. Companies have been progressively integrating technology (such as smartphone and computers) into their customer service strategy, often with varying levels of success.